Daily Times

The budget session of Punjab Assembly is highly likely to be marred by low attendance of MPAs as most of the members are reluctant to attend the proceedings due to the looming threat of COVID-19, it has been learnt.

Most of the MPAs hailing from other districts are not willing to come to Lahore after a surge in COVID-19 cases was witnessed in the metropolitan. The leaked report of the health department in which it was claimed that there are about 0.7 million positive cases of the deadly virus in Lahore, is a big concern for the MPAs and therefore they are not comfortable in attending the assembly session.

The budget session of Punjab Assembly has been convened for June 5 Friday at a local hotel just adjacent to the assembly secretariat. Two big halls of the hotel have been declared as the assembly chambers. It was not possible to maintain the social distancing in the Punjab Assembly official chambers due to limited sitting capacity and therefore Speaker decided to hold the session in the hotel to ensure the SOPs.

In conversation with this scribe, most of the MPAs said that they are comfortable while sitting in their rural constituencies ensuring social distancing. The situation is worst in Lahore and therefore we are reluctant to attend the session, they said. It is pertinent to mention here that two MPAs of Punjab Assembly lost their lives in fight with the COVID-19 while a large number of assembly secretariat staff is also affected with the virus most recently. MPA Shaheen Raza of PTI and Shaukat Manzoor Cheema of PML-N lost their lives due to the deadly virus and both of them were from the Gujranwala district. Moreover, MNA Munir Orakzai, a sitting Sindh minister, Ghulam Murtaza and a former governor of Balochistan have also just passed away while fighting the COVID-19.

“Yes, it is a big concern for us. I’ll attend the first sitting on Friday while wearing masks and gloves and will attend the other sittings if the situation of chamber suits me,” said MPA Muneeb ul Haq, from Okara. He was of the view that protecting our lives is foremost responsibility of all of us and if I find the situation of assembly chambers unsuitable then I must protect my life first, he said.

Syed Hassan Murtaza, PPP’s parliamentary leader, also shared similar views. Murtaza, an MPA from Chiniot, said that most of the MPAs don’t have accommodations in Lahore and MPA hostel also doesn’t have enough capacity to accommodate them. How can you expect the attendance during the session in these circumstances, he questioned.

Meanwhile, the meeting of business advisory committee was also held on Wednesday through video link chaired by Speaker Ch Pervaiz Elahi. Law Minister Raja Basharat, PML-N MPAs Samiullah Khan, Malik Nadeem Kamran, PPP’s Hassan Murtaza and independent MPA Maulana Muawia Azam also attended it. Talking to Daily Times, MPA Samiullah Khan said that they will visit the halls of hotel that have been declared as assembly chambers today. “We have been told by the Speaker that one hall will be the House while the other one will be the lobby for the MPAs,” he said. As the hotel is just adjacent to the assembly secretariat, the opposition leader can also sit in his chamber after attending the sitting of the House, he said, when asked about the sitting arrangement of Hamza Shehbaz who will attend the session on the production orders while coming from the custody of NAB.